Dog is driving me bonkers

[NameChange280222]

Need some words of encouragement. Or advice. Or anything helpful!

I've got a seven year old spaniel who is driving me bonkers, and I'm starting to hate him slightly. It's not entirely his fault, my toddler does exasperate the situation.

He's always been barky from day 1. We taught him "quiet" and can put our finger to our lips in a sshh and he will stop barking. But only momentarily, it used to be for a few minutes and then he'd start again, but now it's mere seconds. And he loves to bloody bark!!!! He sits in the front window barking at anyone and everyone who walks or drives past (and always has to be fair, it's just getting worse). He's now started standing in the garden every evening barking into the dark. There's no way he's barking at anything specific back there. And it's always when I'm putting the toddler to bed so it maximum disruption.

He's also started stealing any food he can get to. This is also new. Heaven forbid I should try and give toddler a snack on the sofa as the dog will literally steal it out of his hand. (Toddler has been eating in his vicinity for over 2 years, there's no obvious reason why this should have just started.)

He's also started getting manic at the dinner table begging (also new!) so we've started locking him out the room and he just goes bananas barking and scratching the door (our fault really, he's never been shut out of rooms much, just never needed to be).

He's just developed some really disruptive, unhelpful habits. He has always been so well behaved. I am just desperate for someone to suggest something useful before I sell him to the circus. Please help!

Don’t feed the toddler anywhere the dog can reach
Crate or remove dog from the room if needs be.
For the people passing either stop access to the window or get some some film to cover but still let light in.
Your dog sounds stressed how much exercise/ stimulation are they getting?
Whilst you eat a frozen kong or lick mat could be an option to distract them

Also vet check as if they recommend a behaviourist your insurance should cover that

He sounds very bored. How much exercise and mental stimulation does he get ?

Needs a vet check loads of physical reasons why this may be happening.

Really interesting feedback about him being bored, that might be a possibility actually. He does get walked every day; at least twice a week will be a long hour or so in the forest, but the rest of the week is probably a 20 minute walk, whereas I'd always made a point to walk him an hour every day until about 6 months ago. His behaviour didn't immediately change so I never put two and two together, but it seems to obvious now you've all said it.

Film on the window is a genius idea too thanks.

Thank you all, I'm going to up the walks again and pray it starts sorting itself out.

Think as you’ve recognised he needs more exercise and stimulation, a worn out dog is generally a more chilled out dog! Good luck

You need to walk him more. 20 mins per day is nowhere near enough for an energetic spaniel

Can you do 10 min training with him everyday, completely focused on him?
He was previously well trained so you know what you are doing. As well as the extra walks a bit of obedience /training reminders (not just when he's being annoying) would also help.

Definitely agree he needs more exercise - I have a 10 year old mongrel and he needs around 2 hours a day still otherwise he would be very annoying! He is a barker too and loves to look out of the window and bark. We have a naughty room which is actually the downstairs toilet. We say very sternly 'you will go in your room' as a warning and if he barks again he goes into his room and I just leave him there for 1 minute, let him out and he is quiet as a mouse. He has learnt very quickly to shut up bless him and sits in his 'room' very quietly for the minute. It is worth a try, worked for me on the whole.

He's not an energetic spaniel 😅 he's a "strolls next to me, hates to exert himself" spaniel. Has been his whole life. You know when most dogs see their lead and go bonkers? Well he needs encouragement just to leave the house most days.

But I'm definitely going to up them again and hope it makes a difference. And yes, definitely happy to spend some dedicated time training him again. Any recommendations what sort of stuff he might enjoy doing at this age?

Curious idea about the naughty room. I have a downstairs loo, I could definitely put him in there. He knows he's not allowed to bark so it makes it all the more grating.

I'd bet my house that he's bored. Spaniels are very bright gun dogs so they're bred to work, hunt, retrieve etc so they need a lot of stimulation and attention.

Lots of brain games, snuffle mats, liki mats, kongs, frozen or otherwise,, scatter feeding etc.

20 minutes walk a day with no mental stimulation? I'm not surprised he barks constantly, to be honest.

Spaniels need at least a good hour a day ideally with a chance to run off lead or do games and hunting work too.

If you can't provide that yourself then maybe a dog walker would be a good idea?

@Nelliephant1

I'd bet my house that he's bored. Spaniels are very bright gun dogs so they're bred to work, hunt, retrieve etc so they need a lot of stimulation and attention.

Lots of brain games, snuffle mats, liki mats, kongs, frozen or otherwise,, scatter feeding etc.

Sorry he's a cav, not a springer/cocker etc. Not working dogs, lazy lap dogs. They've got relatively low exercise needs (in relation to a lot of other breeds). I suspect the biggest problem here though is the drop to what he's been used to for the last 6.5 years. He doesn't seem to care for walks, hence why it never occurred to me.

@fairylightsandwaxmelts

20 minutes walk a day with no mental stimulation? I'm not surprised he barks constantly, to be honest.

Spaniels need at least a good hour a day ideally with a chance to run off lead or do games and hunting work too.

If you can't provide that yourself then maybe a dog walker would be a good idea?

Don't get me wrong, he doesn't get ignored all day. He's still quite playful and I've not stopped playing with him. In fact, toddler is at the age where he plays with him now too, so he probably plays more now than he ever has.

I’m not sure you are right about low exercise needs, these tropes are used to sell the dogs for £££.

My friend has one a similar age and he is walked for miles in the country every day - we live rurally. He comes back and still wants to play. My labrador however, in her prime would have 2 hour long walks a day and then sleep.

Cavaliers still need a good amount of exercise each day - 20 minutes really isn't enough at all.

I know dogs like that are sold as low energy lap dogs but they're still spaniels and still need a good amount of aerobic exercise a day, as well as mental stimulation on top.

So, thinks like licky mats, stuffed kongs, snuffle mats, games where he has to use his brain (scent work, or finding a ball in long grass) etc.

The barking is a sure sign that he's not getting enough fulfilment, either through lack of exercise or lack of brain work (or both).

20 minutes a day is not enough. And you need to split his walks into two a day preferably.

Having owned both cockers and spaniels previously, I feel quite confident in my "he has relatively low exercise needs" comment. I'd never have got away with more than a day or two of walking either of those breeds for only 20 minutes. It's taken a while for these behavioural problems to develop, it's not been instant.

Also, note that I said "relatively". I'm not some sort of moron that thinks any dog has low exercise needs. I definitely didn't buy him hoping I could get away with never walking him (hence the years of daily committment!)

I completely agree with the pp about exercise.

I think you also need to teach him to go somewhere and stay there.
In his bed, in a crate, on the back door mat, doesn't matter really, but it should be a place he feels safe and likes to go.
For my spaniel, that also meant within earsight of us. (which is why he liked the back door mat). This needs teaching away from anything to do with food etc, teach it as positive thing, and lots of reward/positive reinforcement.

Then when you are eating, at table, or toddler snack, he goes to that place and stays there. That will stop the begging. I am assuming that he never gets given food at the table? Best way to stop begging is that it is never rewarded. No human food, just dog food/dog treats.

Be careful that you don't accidentally reward begging with treats (so he begs, you send him to his bed and give him a chew to keep him there, could mean that he assiciates begging with the chew.)

Sounds like quite simple things a behaviourist could help. Look into his diet, what are you feeding him? If his hormones aren't regularly controlled and his seratonin levels drop - bad behaviour can become common place.

My dog is the same with barking - so we don't have her anywhere she can bark. Blinds shut unless I am in the room and able to stop her. She is upstairs, usually sleeping. She goes out with us for a wee at night to stop her barking.

With food:

• 12 hours apart, equal times
• no walks before or after meal times to prevent stomach issues
• we were feeding forthglade which isn't enough carbs. I have since found meat, with rice/potato and some James Wellbeloved keeps all aggression away and they aren't as bothered by food

sorry should say within eyesight of us!

There are some great ideas in Facebook groups/websites/books if you search Canine Enrichment. I have a cocker spaniel who is a complete pain if she doesn't get enough mental stimulation as well as physical exercise.

One of my favourite (read easiest!) things to do is save all the cardboard packaging, little boxes and loo rolls etc in a cardboard box and hide her kibble in it. Also added blobs of peanut butter to it last time. I think it lasted her over 30 minutes and it wore her out! Good thing to do during tea too.

Maybe also get him checked out at the vets. The food thing could be because he’s bored and needs more exercise, but our dog went quite bad and over excited when it came to food and would steal the toddlers food off him (and she knows this is a no, no!), and turns out she has cushings disease. She was weeing a lot as well though. She has been put on medication and has calmed down now, although given half a chance would half inch any food left within reach if she thinks we aren’t looking.

@Mummysgirl12 How would I know about hormone levels? We feed him raw food. Where he's always been a plodder (rather than a run around like mad dog), we have to watch his weight and found the best results with raw. I'm always panicky about making sure I get the right nutritional balance. I wonder if his needs have changed and I need to go back to the drawing board. I do know a good behaviouralist so I'll pop her a text too.